


Aperture Nerd Labs

by allmagiccomeswithrice (bisaleth)



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014), Portal (Video Game)
Genre: Angst probably, Baymax is the Companion Cube, Grief, Hiro as Chell, Hurt/Comfort, Team Testing, fluff probably
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-23
Updated: 2015-04-25
Packaged: 2018-03-25 11:10:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3808195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bisaleth/pseuds/allmagiccomeswithrice
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Portal AU where Tadashi works at Aperture and takes Hiro to his nerd job to try and convince him to work there with him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Welcome to Nerd Job

**Author's Note:**

> This will span the comic and both games, just so's you know.

"What are we  _doing_ at your nerd job?  Bot fight's that way!" Hiro practically shouts, grabbing his nii-chan's arm and trying to pull him back out of the big white facility that reminds him all too much of a hospital.  Tadashi had promised him just 10 minutes ago that he would be the one to take him to the bot fight, and now there they are, walking into the Aperture Science Enrichment Center.  This is not what Hiro signed up for.

"Gotta grab something.  Relax, you big baby.  We'll be in and out."  Tadashi opens a door and leads him in. "Anyway, you've never seen my lab."

"Oh greeeat, I get to see your nerd lab. and meet your nerd friends.  You're not really gonna take me bot fighting are yo-"

"HEADS UP!" Something bright yellow zips past Hiro too fast for him to properly tell what it is and it stops him in his path for a moment before he looks over to find a woman with a helmet on, her boots completely covered in yellow...goo.  Hiro steps over the goo that's been splayed in a line on the floor that she'd been running on, but curiosity makes him bend down to touch some of it, rubbing it between his fingers.  "Wooah.  Is this....chemically enhanced propulsion gel?"

"Hey.  Who're you?" The woman is now staring at him.  Well, he thinks she probably is.  He can't actually tell with the helmet she has on, but he can definitely feel an intense stare going on.

"Go Go, this is my brother Hiro."  Tadashi saves him from answering her stern voice and she accepts his answer, taking off her helmet and blowing some bubble gum.

"Welcome to the nerd lab."

* * *

 

So, apparently getting a job as a scientist at Aperture laboratories was a bit more complicated than going to an interview and giving them a resume.  Hiro had to show his interviewers something 'packed with science for the future' in order to get in, which was something he struggled a bit with, but did manage to do.  In fact, despite his early nervousness about the whole thing and the anxiety that came with speaking to a line of scientists who are there to judge him, he aced it.  He was definitely going to get hired, it just wasn't official until they signed documents and other boring things like that.

Hiro exited the presentation room (which was really a testing room remodeled temporarily for the sake of the interviews that day) to find Tadashi coming into the hall from the testing observation deck.  He saw the whole thing.

Together, they began walking toward the exit.  They both knew that Tadashi wanted to say something, but Hiro spoke up first. "I know what you're gonna say,"  Hiro lowers his voice to try and imitate Tadashi. " _'I should be proud of myself because I'm finally using my gift for something important.'_ "

Tadashi rolls his eyes.  "No, no, I was just gonna tell you your fly was down the whole thing."

"HA ha ha....hilarious." Hiro sarcastically laughs, but checks anyway, finding it down and zipping it up instantly.  "What?!  Tadashi!" He punches his big brother in the arm as punishment for not saying so earlier.  That's what you get.

Tadashi just laughs, uncaring about his little bro's embarrassment.  "Welcome to nerd job....nerd."

Hiro laughs a bit, but his laughter dies after a few beats as he wants to say something a little more serious.  "Hey, uhh, I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you so...y'know.  Thanks for not giving up on me."

They're almost out of the doors when Tadashi smiles and looks like he wants to say something, but is interrupted by the sound of the doors locking and a modified voice echoing throughout the facility.  "The Enrichment Center would like to announce a new initiative of forced voluntary participation.  If any Aperture Science employee would like to opt out of this new voluntary testing program, please remember, science rhymes with compliance.   You know what doesn't rhyme with compliance?  Neurotoxin."

The air begins filling with neurotoxin the instant it is mentioned.  Tadashi grabs Hiro's hand and they begin to run as fast as they can through the crowd of people gasping and falling over.  There's an intense feeling that washes over both of them, like a migraine but much worse.  They keep running.  "Where are we  _going to run?!"_ Hiro unnecessarily shouts as they dash at full speed through a maze of halls and doors.

"Keep your voice down or it'll hear you.  Relaxation vaults.  There aren't very many of them, but....."  They arrive at a panel and Tadashi types some things in before a door opens and they're in a glass room with one pod.

Without delay, Tadashi picks up his brother and practically shoves him into the pod.

"What about you?"  Hiro looks up as Tadashi presses a button and shuts the glass on top of Hiro.

"I'll be fine.  I'm gonna help as many people as I can, first."  He replies in a hurry.  There isn't much time left.  Hiro reaches his hand out and it hits the glass.

"Tadashi, no!"  Hiro tries to call out, but his consciousness is slipping.

"People are still out there.  Someone has to help."  Tadashi says loud enough for Hiro to hear just before running back out and locking the cell.

Hiro struggles for a few seconds longer before sleep hits him.  This is definitely not what he signed up for.


	2. What Hiro Unwillingly Signed Up For

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Hiro has to go through a bunch of tests that are all ridiculously simple to him.

When Hiro wakes from stasis, the first thing he hears is awful radio music.  The strong desire to silence it is what brings him to open his eyes and sit up.  It isn't until he takes a good, long moment to observe his surroundings that he remembers what happened, making him quickly jump out of the pod and look for the exit, only to find none.  The door he'd entered before is just...not there.  There's no way out.  There's only a pod, a toilet, and a desk with a radio and a blank form on a clipboard.

Another thing that he finds odd is that his clothes have changed.   Instead of the pants, red shirt, and jacket he had on when he was put in stasis, he has an Aperture Laboratories purple jumpsuit on, along with some boots that he recognizes as long-fall boots. He checks all the channels on the radio, in case there are any stations that might give him a clue as to what day it is at least, but they're all the same song except the one that's just fuzz.  He turns it off just as a voice begins to speak to him from everywhere.

"Hello, and, again, welcome to the Aperture Science Computer-Aided Enrichment Center."  Not just any voice.   _That_ voice.  The one that took over and started killing everyone just before he was forced asleep.  The one that...well, he doesn't know that Tadashi didn't make it.  He doesn't want to jump to conclusions.  He'll keep his thought on Tadashi's well-being suspended until he knows what happened.  Either way, he hates that voice now.

"We hope your brief detention in the relaxation vault has been a pleasant one.  Your specimen has been processed and we are now ready to begin the test proper.  Before we start, however, keep in mind that although fun and learning are the primary goals of all enrichment activities, serious injuries may occur."  Oh, yeah.  There's nothing like a little neurotoxin to make your science more fun.  What the heck is wrong with this lady?  Most of all, why was she put in charge of everything?

"For your own safety and the safety of others, please refrain from-- [bzzzzt]" "Por favor bordón de fallar Muchos gracias de fallar gracias" Hiro has no clue what she just said.  Is there a bug in the translation system?

"Stand back.  The portal will open in three, two, one."  A red portal opens before him and he takes a moment to examine it with curiosity before walking through, finding it purple on the other end.  So that's what portals are like.  Neat.  Now he can leave, which is even more neat.  There's the door he originally entered in on the other side of the room, and it's open and waiting.

....except it doesn't lead to the same place he remembered.  That was supposed to be a hallway, not a testing room with a button and a block dispenser.  Crap.  He activates the dispenser and puts it on the button, the door opening in response.

"Excellent.  Please proceed into the chamberlock after completing each test.  First, however, note the incandescent particle field across the exit. This Aperture Science Material Emancipation Grill will vaporize any unauthorized equipment that passes through it - for instance, the Aperture Science Weighted Storage Cube."

It looks like he's just gonna have to go through with testing until he can find Tadashi and get the heck outta there.

* * *

 

The days pass in a blur.  The tests are way too easy and Hiro solves them without any trouble, even when dangerous elements are introduced.  Not to say that they don't scare him.  In fact,  he's terrified of making a wrong move, and he's terrified of never escaping.  He sometimes gets exhausted enough to pass out, and he does.  He never needs any food, which is really bizarre, and he can't imagine it's healthy.  He's not actually sure how much time has passed by this point, but if he had to guess it would be from two to three weeks.  Within the first day, he received a portal gun, enabling him to complete the tests even easier than before.  As far as he can tell, there's no actual point to  _any_ of the tests.  This can hardly even be called science.

The lady on the intercom (just  _where_ are the speakers?) gets increasingly horrifying as time has gone on, and that's saying something, considering that she murdered all of the scientists and even...maybe even Tadashi.  He can't be sure, isn't even sure if he wants to be sure about what happened, but it's been a long time.  He can't count how many times he's cried, thinking that Tadashi was dead, thinking he was doomed to forever do these meaningless tests.  He was so tired.  He just wanted to go home.  Did Aunt Cass know what happened?  Is she trying to help them?  Does she think he and his brother are dead?

Hiro steps into a lift that he assumed would lead him to his next test.

"Today, you will be testing with partners."

This piques his interest.  He was beginning to think he was the only person alive in this entire facility, which...is much bigger than he thought it was.  How far underground does the place even  _go?_    As the lift lowers him deep into the place, the space widens and four other lifts come into view.  It takes him a moment to recognize them in the jumpsuits, but it's definitely them.  Tadashi's co-workers.  Except, Fred is just a friend who visits the lab frequently and, for reasons unknown, doesn't get apprehended for it.  By now, Hiro considers them friends.

Go Go Tomago in her yellow jumpsuit, holding a gun that...isn't a portal gun.  He's not sure what that is, but it's different.  Wasabi in his green jumpsuit, with a portal gun, Honey Lemon in her pink jumpsuit with the same type of gun as Go Go, and Fred in the blue with a portal gun.  Hiro feels his heart swell for a moment as relief washes over him.  Four less people he has to grieve once he's out of there.  If he ever does get out.

They all turn to Hiro and try shouting things, but he can't really hear what they're saying through the thick glass of the lifts, so they all exchange visual greetings through waving their hands.  The lifts come to a stop at a platform and they all get off, resulting in Hiro practically being mobbed by his friends.  They're all hugging him and talking at once and it kind of overwhelms him.  Luckily, they soon realize that they're overcrowding him, backing off a bit and giving each other the time to speak.

Honey Lemon goes first.  "I'm so glad you're okay, Hiro,"

Fred chimes in. "Yeah, I was beginning to think we'd have to find you and wake you up like how the Hulk woke up Iron Man, y'know, by yelling really loud until you opened your eyes."

Wasabi and Go Go both started to say something at the same time, but Hiro interrupted them.  "Where's Tadashi?"

Silence followed.  None of them wanted to be the one who said it.  The voice was the only one to interrupt the silence.  "This is the Computer Intelligence Training and Enrichment Center Human Test Subject Research Center or SinTech.  All cooperative testing courses begin at this central hub.  From here we transport you to the new testing course."

The others look away when the voice speaks, but Hiro demands their attention once more.  " _What happened to **Tadashi**?_ "

Honey looks at him with sympathy.  "...When he got to us, he was already pretty bad.  We all were.  He told us to get to the relaxation vaults, but-..."  She couldn't finish.  It was that bad.

Go Go finished for her.  "He disappeared when we were on our way there."

Wasabi put his hand of Hiro's shoulder.  "I think he did it to keep us from hesitating when the time came."

" _What_ time came?"  Hiro was trying really hard to hold in his anger at this point.

Fred gave the final blow.  "There were only four vaults left.  He sacrificed himself so we wouldn't have to pick who does and doesn't get to live."

Hiro tugged himself away from Wasabi, from everyone.  "And you didn't go back for him?"  After all that Tadashi did for them, for everyone, no one thought he was worth trying to find, to save?  Were they really his friends?

A distressed Honey leaned down, reaching out to him, but he stepped back.  "Hiro, there wasn't enough time to find him and even if there was, there wasn't a way to..."

Hiro had tears in his eyes as he ran away from the team as far as he could, until he reached the entrance to the test they were supposed to take and decided to start shouting at the 'vital testing apparatus' camera.

"You can throw tests at me, you can hold me over acid, put a turret in front of me, whatever, but you can't make me test with them!  I won't do it.  If I step over this ledge and die, right here, right now, you won't be able to test me anymore, so you either lose a test subject, or you keep my testing separate from THEIRS!"  It was said in a fit of rage.  He knew he wouldn't do it. But he was close enough to considering it that the act was believable and, to his surprise, it worked.  A portal made itself known and he walked right through it, leaving the others behind.

He knew that he was being completely unreasonable in blaming them.  He knew that he was just really upset and needed time to get over it.  Get over Tadashi's death? Not likely.  Tadashi is....was the only direct family member he had left.  Now he doesn't even have that.  Tadashi is gone.  He's never coming back.  He won't show up in the next test chamber, call him a knucklehead, and get them out of there.  

No more Tadashi.

Suddenly, the testing chambers seemed so much bigger and scarier than before.


	3. Chapter 3

Hiro was put back into solo testing.

That was around 3 days ago, and he couldn't count how many times he'd second guessed himself, wondering if maybe it would've been better to stay with the group.  Somehow, despite that, his concerns seem so far off and unimportant.  The knowledge that he will never see Tadashi again pushes him further down the path of depression.  The voice has noted his decrease pace in completing the tests, as now he's hardly paying any attention to them.  The only parts that he pays attention to are the danger, and because of that, the danger of the tests increased to get a response.

Hiro walked into the next test and immediately destroyed the camera by putting a portal behind it. "[Vital testing apparatus destroyed.]" He didn't like feeling watched by the psycho in charge.  The more he could do to hinder her, the better. Taking a look at the test number and the potential dangers of the test, he jumped back the screen started buzzing out.

Curious, he slipped his thin arm behind the screen and into the crack between it and the wall, checking if there was maybe a loose wire somewhere.  Nope, everything seemed to be in place.  Just when he was about to give up and move on, the screen stopped buzzing and showed a video feed of Fred, Go Go, Honey, and Wasabi, waving at him from an old hallway that was dimly lit.  "Hey, Hiro."  They all spoke in unison.  Probably practiced it, too.

"We just wanted to check in and see if you were okay."  Honey Lemon, ever compassionate.  Trying to help.  He feels so stupid for running off and blaming them.  Tadashi would have sacrificed himself no matter how hard they tried to stop him.  He's just that kind of person.

Hiro wanted to apologize, so he tried, even though the words felt like they were stuck to his throat. "Guys, look, I'm so-"

Wasabi interrupted, obviously not actually receiving Hiro's voice on the other end.  "We found our way out of the testing blocks.  GLaDOS is looking for us so we don't have much time, but we hacked into the internal communication system to talk to you.  I don't know why your feed isn't showing up, but the sensors on the screen say you're in there."  Well, he sure screwed that one up.  Shouldn't have destroyed the camera.  

GLaDOS...finally a name to the maniac.  "[I know you're there.  I can feel you here.]"

They all cringe at the voice.  Fred is the first to speak up after GLaDOS.  "Dude, don't ever listen to her.  She's the supervillain."

Go Go pushes him aside a bit so that she's more in the shot.  "Hiro, we know what you must be going through, but you gotta just woman up and fight.  You can't let her win."

"We're gonna find a way out of here." Honey adds on. 

"For now, just look for little hidden spots that go off the path.  You need food, you might find some left in observation decks.  Your body can only survive a couple weeks on the shot that the relaxation vault gave-." Wasabi startled when the voice of GLaDOS interrupted him.

"[What are you doing?  You haven't escaped, you know.]"

"Gotta go.  Please stay alive, Hiro. You can make it."  Honey gives a sympathetic smile before the video feed cuts out and the screen returns to the fuzz.

Hiro stands there, contemplating for a bit before he continues on his way into the test.

It's surprisingly easy to find just such a place that Wasabi mentioned.  Two weighted cubes were holding open a large panel in the wall, which he only felt comfortable to explore once the two nearby turrets had been deactivated.  What he saw once he got there...was probably not what Wasabi was talking about.  There were bags of gummy bears everywhere, but to his great displeasure, they were all empty.  Of course.  Just his luck.  Taking a look at the wall(there really wasn't much else to look at in there), he could see a bunch of scribbled, hasty writings.  They didn't really make much sense, but the most nonsensical part was the he recognized Tadashi's handwriting.

Hiro felt a spike of hope in his chest before he stomped down on it hard, reasserting to himself that Tadashi is most definitely  _dead_ , and this was written before he died.  He probably hid here as his brain was melting, and that was why none of the writings made any sense.

 Although, there was that strange drawing of a big, white, fluffy-looking robot with a pink heart at his center with nothing but the two words written underneath that he _could_ understand.  
"For Hiro."


End file.
